He’s looking for a story to die into. Along the way, he keeps stumbling into life. A wild, searching novel about faith, addiction, displacement, and the...

He’s looking for a story to die into. Along the way, he keeps stumbling into life. A wild, searching novel about faith, addiction, displacement, and the quiet, burning question of what makes a life worth anything at all.

Cyrus is an orphaned Iranian-American, a recovering addict, and a student obsessed with martyrs: from Joan of Arc to Malcolm X to his own missing mother. As he drifts through grief, belief, and longing, he encounters a constellation of strangers whose lives briefly tangle with his, all while searching for a place to belong.

Martyr! is a stunning, lyrical debut from poet Kaveh Akbar: funny, surreal, and gutting in equal measure. It wrestles with faith and failure, the sacred and the profane, in a world where transcendence feels both urgent and elusive.

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📗 In The Mood For…

Understanding Myself
A spiraling, poetic search for meaning, identity, and self-worth.
✅ Deeply interior and emotionally raw
✅ Blends addiction, grief, and spiritual hunger with stark honesty

Reconnecting with My Soul
Part prayer, part poem, part fever dream.
✅ Touches the sacred without being dogmatic
✅ Explores divinity, ritual, and the ache for transcendence

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📘 Stories About…

Life & Death
Martyrdom, mortality, and the ache of being alive.
✅ Death isn’t just an end. It’s a lens through which we see everything
✅ A meditation on the value of life, even in ruin

The Unknown or Unseen
Ghosts, visions, and divine longings flicker beneath the surface.
✅ Reality bends under spiritual and emotional weight
✅ Hums with mystery, presence, and dream logic